


Next To Me

by InesStarkDowney



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt Steve Rogers, Hurt Tony Stark, Implied Slash, M/M, Major Character Injury, Not Canon Compliant, Superfamily (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 15:29:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14264058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InesStarkDowney/pseuds/InesStarkDowney
Summary: With a love that never came to be, still Steve and Tony held on to each other. With Tony always so open about his pain, at least when it came to Peter, all Steve ever knew was to hold Tony, keep him intact, forgetting that he too feels pain.





	Next To Me

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this while listening to Next To Me by Imagine Dragons. So... Sadness is what came out in the end.
> 
> I hope you like it!
> 
> Oh, and I don't think it's explicit that Steve and Tony are outside the hospital room where Peter is.

Casually, Steve walked to Tony, sliding down the cold, white wall of the hospital to sit, thigh against thigh, shoulder to shoulder. The rock that Tony seemed to be from the far end of the hallway seemed to melt into something sad and without any shape. As if by habit and as natural as anything can be, his body molded itself against Steve's, Tony's head tucked into Steve's neck. Steve closed his eyes and brushed, ever so slightly, his nose over Tony's wild curls.

He felt the sigh that escaped Tony's body, felt his body shake with emotion, with holding it in. Steve remained with his eyes closed for a few more seconds, too scared to look at Tony and see all the masks down, bare face, bare eyes, bare chest and heart. In those moments, Steve remembered that Tony was more than just Tony, a tragedy. Brown eyes and a tragedy worthy of being told by the great.

When he did open his eyes, Steve observed the dim light coming through the door, barely lighting up anything at all from the dark, silent hallway. This was all Tony looked at, day and night. If he looked now, that dim light would fall soft and cruelly against Tony's face, highlighting the wrinkles, old almost invisible scars, years of pain in curved lines, sadness sprawled freely over every inch of his olive skin.

Steve didn't want to see any of that. Yes, he was more of a coward when it came to Tony more than with anything else but he couldn't help it. One look could mean a broken heart. With Tony, Steve had to tread so carefully. It took so long to manage to know this type of lonely dance, because Tony was never afraid when it came to Steve.

So there he was, left to lingering touches, whispered words and silent promises. More than that and they would implode. A ticking time bomb, that's what they were in the end. All of them. But Tony and him... They could wipe out the entire world and they were far more selfless than that.

From his lap, Steve quietly reached for Tony's hand, interlocking long, soft fingers with rough, patched ones. Tony held on like a new born holds on to a finger. As if it was even more possible, all of Tony shrunk down a size, his body turning to Steve, face now hidden in the crook of Steve's neck. In his hold, Steve felt all the pain and despair. So much was hanging on a thread, all that Tony loved encased in such a fragile body in comparison with them. Just like that, in a flicker of a light, as it all crumbled down, it could all disappear.

What was Tony without Peter?

Just like, what was Steve without Bucky?

  
(What was Steve without Tony?)  
‎

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing but empty bodies.

Thumbs caressed over wounded knuckles over the years. Steve hummed a song once hummed by his mother, when nights were cold and Steve couldn't fall asleep from all the sickness inside his body. Tony's hold only managed to get stronger, tighter and yet fragile, a sign of the crumbling of Tony. At such affection, Tony cried silently, tears staining Steve's skin, down, down, down. Steve would feel it forever.

Tears and hold, in equal measure. Tony's body imprinted against his skin and muscles.

With his own body screaming at him, Steve closed his eyes again, the dim light now too heavy, the grip of Tony's hold too strong, all hurting too much.

"It's all gonna be okay. He'll wake up, Tony. He has to."

They were whispered words that brought wave crashing sobs out of Tony. Loud and thundering, like a winter storm, in place of the screams Tony wanted to let out but couldn't.

Steve wanted to be deaf, senseless, empty, but he wasn't, and so, listening to the shattering of Tony's heart, seeing the dim light behind his eyelids, he cried silently.

What was Steve without Peter, too?

 

 

 


End file.
